A group of students have begun to research and analyze the technological addictions students have and the effects it has on someone’s attention span.
With technology changing every minute, millennials have acquired a taste for technological advancement by checking for the latest trends, ideas, news and social interactions through any electronic device.
As part of a group project for Environmental and Technological Science, Darius Bell, sophomore sociology major from Frisco, said the project was developed to study the effects of technology and how addictive it can be.
“Our goal of our project is to just understand in what ways technology can be affecting peoples lives,” Bell said. “We are trying to see in what ways is it good to have technology in our life, and in what ways can it be seen as bad, and learning to balance both.”
The project was developed by one of the group members, who suggested the group should sit in different parts of Chapel and count how many students are on their phones during the speaker’s message. After taking count, the group, known as Treehuggers, would analyze their data and come up with an overall conclusion on their proposed hypothesis.
Dr. Jim Cooke, professor of environmental science, said he is proud of the group and their efforts to examine the effects technology has on our environment and lifestyle.
“I think it’s a great project,” Cooke said. ” I think that the students coming up with this project will become more aware of their use of technology and are wanting other students to also be aware.”
Bell said he is a firm believer in technology’s usefulness and importance in our lives. At the same time, he understands that it has limits.
“I support technology all the way,” he said. “But, I understand that it has its limits, and we should be learn to limit it in our lives.”
The group hopes to find accurate results to prove their methodology, not only for their letter-grade but for further knowledge on the issue.
Bret Ellis, sophomore information systems major from Canyon Lake, said whether the results are in favor or against their hypothesis, they will still stand behind their findings.
“We will report the information that we receive regardless if it agrees with what we think its going to be,” Ellis said. “But my initial thoughts there are going to be several people using their phones during Chapel.”
Ellis said technology, though beneficial, is causing several people to forget life around them and having a negative effect.
“I strongly believe that people are becoming more and more addictive to technology and, although technology is a really good thing, it sometimes gets abused,” Ellis said. “I think it’s starting to have a negative effect on people and is starting to distract you from life.”
